Who shot the rabbit in the face with a dart? It’s now a case with the Broward sheriff
It looked like a flower.
Misty Rice-Baniewicz thought nothing of the yellow object near the face of a little rabbit she spotted near her Parkland home earlier this month. On closer inspection, she realized it was something more sinister.
A metal dart was protruding from the face of the marsh rabbit, a small cottontail native to Florida.
On her Facebook page, the animal lover documents how she first encountered the injured animal, and enlisted neighbors to help her snag the little guy with a net and get it medical attention.
The dart was removed without incident at the South Florida Wildlife Center, which told WSVN that the patient’s “prognosis is good.” The adorable male on the mend is not only getting attention from fellow residents but also from from local law enforcement, who want to know who is responsible.
Rice-Baniewicz reports that Detective Robert Rutkowski with the Broward Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations unit is investigating dart in rabbit as an animal cruelty case.
If you have information on suspects or see other injured animals, contact the detective at robert_rutkowski@sheriff.org, with the case number of 17-2109-000555 in the subject line.
“Let’s make sure no additional innocent harmless animals need to carelessly suffer like Marsh the rabbit,” wrote Rice-Baniewicz, who adds Marsh’s case is not an isolated incident. The Broward County woman said she was told by neighbors that another rabbit in the area was recently hit with a dart in its leg in the same neighborhood, and did not survive.
The one bright spot: Marsh was set to be released Monday back into to his home in the wild where he was found.
This story was originally published September 20, 2021 at 12:05 PM.
